Writers in the Storm

by Eldred “Bob” Bird

Now that the country has pretty much opened up again, the opportunities to present to writer’s groups in person are opening up as well. I recently had the chance to get back up in front of a group for the first time since the shutdown and I must admit, it felt a little foreign.

I hadn’t been in the spotlight for over three years and my presentation skills needed some serious dusting off. As I pulled my materials together and created the outline and slide show, I thought it might be a good time to share my process with the WITS crowd, so here we go!

Getting Started

The first step I take when putting a presentation together is to get a clear idea of what the expectations of the hosting group are. Here are a few of the questions I usually have:

• How many people are expected to attend? – This helps me plan for things like the number of handouts I need to print, how much promotional material to have on hand, and so on.
• How much time am I going to have? – In addition to the actual presentation, I like to make sure I leave enough time for questions. I also like to have some interactive exercises when time allows.
• What kind of technology will be available? – There’s nothing worse than showing up with an amazing audio-visual presentation only to find out that there’s no support for that kind of thing. Find out what the venue will provide and what you need to supply. If it’s a large room, will there be a PA system? What kind of inputs does the AV setup have? Some older technology may not play well with new systems. I always carry a wide selection of adapters in my laptop case for just this reason.
• Will I be allowed to display and sell my books? – Most groups allow you to sell your work, but some venues may restrict it. Be sure to check with your host. They may have a specific way to handle merchandising.

Building the Presentation

 Whether I have video capabilities or not at the venue, I still like to build a Power Point presentation. It not only provides a way for me to keep myself on track, but also lets me produce handouts for the group. This gives them a way to follow along in case of the absence, or failure, of audio-visual equipment. I usually print two slides per page with large margins so there’s plenty of room for attendees to take notes.

There are as many ways to build a presentation as there are people delivering them. This is the general framework I use to structure my teaching materials when I’m asked to pass on what I’ve learned to other writers.

Introduction

I use the first couple of slides to introduce myself and my body of work. This might include things like books, short stories, blogging (like I do for WITS), and other publishing credits. You should also mention any awards or recognition you’ve received from the writing community.

While this section feels a little like bragging, it goes toward establishing your credibility as an experienced writer with something of value to share. But don’t go overboard. Like I said, this is about establishing your credibility, not your superiority. You want to make a connection with the group without intimidating them.

Set Expectations for the Session

The next thing I include is a high-level look at what I’ll be covering. This is usually just one slide with bullet points made up of the headers for each section of the presentation. I say a few words about what will be covered in each then move on. It makes for a smooth transition into the informational portion of the presentation.

Delivering the Goods

This is where the meat of the presentation lives. The number of slides and how they are arranged will vary with the subject matter and how much time has been allotted for the session. Building around the bullet points on the slide that set the expectations, I create the rest of the slides for the presentation.

I also use bullet points on these slides to identify talking points for each section. What I don’t do is write a full explanation of each point. Nothing bores me more than listening to a presenter just read the slides to me. I prefer to use the slides as a guide and then talk about the concept. This makes it more personal and encourages interaction from the group.

I finish this section up with a general overview of the material and a Q&A session, if time permits.

Contact Information

The final slide in all of my presentations is a “Where to Find Me” page. This includes my website address, email, social media information, and links to places where my work is available, like my Amazon Author page. I usually leave this slide up for the remainder of my time at the podium.

Interactive Exercise

If time and the subject matter permits, I like to hand out a worksheet and have the members of the group populate it with information from something they’re working on. I’ll ask for volunteers to share their work for input from me as well as the rest of the group. This helps to cement the concepts from the lesson.

It can also lead to building relationships within the group. More than once, I’ve seen writers get together after the session and share ideas sparked by the material and the interactions spurred on by the exercise.

After the Session

If time and the venue allow, I like to make myself available for a meet and greet after the session. This gives people a chance to get to know me and my work a little better. Being accessible can go a long way toward building an audience, as well as establishing relationships with other writers.

I’m a living example of how this kind of networking can pay off. The fact that you’re reading this right now is proof. It was through networking with other writers that I was able to make some long-term connections that eventually led me to guest posting for WITS on a regular basis.

Some Final Thoughts

The above is just one approach to sharing your knowledge with other writers. It’s a good place to start. Next time you attend a conference, workshop, or author talk, I would encourage you to pay close attention not just to the message but to how it is delivered. Over time you will find what works for you, as well as your audience.

Do you teach workshops or speak to writer’s groups? What have you found works (or doesn’t)? Do you have a specific method you prefer when sharing your knowledge and experience with other writers? Let us know in the comments below!

About Eldred

Eldred Bird writes contemporary fiction, short stories, and personal essays. He has spent a great deal of time exploring the deserts, forests, and deep canyons inside his home state of Arizona. His James McCarthy adventures, Killing Karma, Catching Karma, and Cold Karma, reflect this love of the Grand Canyon State even as his character solves mysteries amidst danger. Eldred explores the boundaries of short fiction in his stories, The Waking Room, Treble in Paradise: A Tale of Sax and Violins, and The Smell of Fear.

When he’s not writing, Eldred spends time cycling, hiking, and juggling (yes, juggling…bowling balls and 21-inch knives).

His passion for photography allows him to record his travels. He can be found on Twitter or Facebook, or at his website.

Image Credits:

Top image by Chelsea Ouellet from Pixabay

There’s a lot written about Imposters Syndrome. Most of it attempts to reassure us that feeling like an imposter is normal. I’m not here to argue with that. But too many of us do not realize how deviously imposter syndrome can invade your creative life. Or how to overcome the syndrome.

Imposter Syndrome Defined

Clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes first coined the term Imposter Syndrome (I.S.) in 1978. According to Wikipedia, the Imposter Syndrome is “a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments. It is not an officially recognized psychological disorder and is not among the conditions described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but it has been the subject of numerous books and articles by psychologists and educators.” 

There was a time when we believed more women suffered from the Imposter Syndrome than men did. Unfortunately, time has shown that no one is immune to these feelings. It happens to all creatives, including writers, to celebrities, to politicians, to tradespeople, and to stay-at-home parents. And the phenomenon has been around for a long time.

Examples:

Remember when Sally Field accepted the Oscar with her statement, “You like me. You really, really like me!” Yup. That’s a sign of that Imposter Syndrome. Aw, you say, she’s an actress, she doesn’t count. So how about Albert Einstein who said, “The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” Or former President Woodrow Wilson when he said, “I use not only all the brains I have but all that I can borrow.”

Signs of Imposter Thinking

Imposter Syndrome is sneaky. It’s not always the same signs or the same way of thinking. Your brain is clever that way. It devises new ways to “protect” you. Here are some thoughts that suggest you have Imposter Syndrome.

• Diminishing your accomplishments by saying something like “it’s not a big deal.”
• You quit your job soon after a promotion that you felt you didn’t deserve.
• Creating a perfect story, aka perfectionism, keeps you from completing your work. 
• You procrastinate on things to be done. If it isn’t done, then you can’t be “found out.”
• Insomnia and migraines have been called symptoms of imposter syndrome as well. (Please, if you are having physical symptoms such as insomnia or migraines, seek medical attention to rule out other causes for those symptoms.)
• You look at another writer’s awards and accolades or best seller rank and think you will never be as good. You are suffering from comparison-itis, another form of imposter thinking.
• Writer’s Block has many causes. But it can be a sign of this syndrome, especially if your thoughts are leading you to believe this temporary stoppage means you aren’t a real writer. 
• Finally, in extreme cases, there are some who take refuge in more destructive behaviors like addiction to alcohol or drugs. Please seek professional therapy for these types of behaviors.

The Neuroscience of Imposter Syndrome

Psychologists have identified four main primal drives that helped all animals, including humans, survive. They are: fight, flight, feed, and mate. 

Few people dispute humans would not have survived much of the last two thousand years without our fight and flight mechanism. Fortunately, early humans developed a very strong, instinctual way of reacting to the threat of death that they lived with every day. 

This means that our brains instinctively give the highest priority to these drives. Instinctively, our brains look for reasons we must fight to survive first, and if fighting isn’t survivable, we instantly take flight. Once we no longer need fight-or-flight, our brains will prioritize feeding ourselves in order to survive. Finally, we mate to ensure our survival. 

Luckily, some of us have moved beyond the physical fight for survival. Many of us do not have to fight off a bear or lion or other imminent death threat. But even when we don’t have a physical death threat at our door, our brains still have that fight-or-flight instinct. So our brains look for the next “best” threat and turn it into a life-and-death issue. 

We may know logically that the “threat” is not that kind of situation, but we don’t start with our thinking-brain. We start with our feeling-brain. And we feel afraid. 

When we feel afraid, our brain kicks in the fight-or-flight instinct. We act to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, what we think is protective is not helpful in the least. But we don’t know it because our feeling brain tells our thinking brain what think and those thoughts become what we believe. Notice that there’s no logic built into our instincts. 

The good news is that we can do something. We can learn from our fears and eventually believe differently. 

Ways to Supercharge Your Writing Life Against I.S.

Stop the Argument

If the number one culprit responsible for how we behave is our feelings, how do our feelings usually manifest themselves? Self-talk. Our brains start a running dialogue that reinforces the fear of that death threat (real or not). To combat the Imposter Syndrome, we need to counteract that running dialog based on fear.

There are many ways to address our fearful, negative self-talk. First, we have to notice it. This might mean you need to meditate on the thoughts and feelings you are experiencing. Journaling may help or reading self-help books or courses. Always check the bona fides of any book or mentor or therapist before choosing one. Professional organizations are the best option for finding reputable sources of help. 

If your negative self-talk includes suicidal thoughts, to talk with a therapist now. If you don’t have one or cannot afford one, reach out to your nearest public health department, your church, or in the U.S., call 988 (English and Spanish). Outside the US, try this list of international hotlines. 

On the August 6, 2023 episode of the Writing Excuses podcast, actress and writer, Kirsten Vangsness, discussed Imposter Syndrome. She suggested you can stop the argument by acknowledging you are an imposter. She says she understands that there is a part of her that constantly is trying to destroy her. Knowing that, she can recognize that self-talk and learn how to deflect or defeat it.

By acknowledging that she is an imposter, Kirsten is embracing her fear. Sometimes, simply saying I’m afraid is enough to help diminish that fear enough so you can move through the fear. 

Reframe Negative Thoughts 

Reframing is a psychological “trick” to turn a negative thought into a positive one. 

Example 1: 

Negative: Author XYZ sells more books than I do. I must not be a good enough writer.

Positive: Even though she sells more books than I, I still sell books. 

Example 2: 

Negative: I can’t take a break. If I’m not writing, I am not a writer.

Positive: Surgeons go on vacation and they’re still a surgeon. Ergo, writers can go on vacation (or take a break) and still be writers.

You can use this technique to quell any negative thoughts you wish to change. It’s not an instant fix, but over time, it can make a vast difference in your thoughts.

Self-Compassion 

Recognize your bravery and your persistence. Writer, you are brave when you act in the face of unreasonable fear. Believing you aren’t good enough is a fear. Continuing to write despite that belief/fear is an act of bravery.

You are persistent when you take the hits and keep moving toward your writing goals. No matter how small the hit to your writer's pride or identity, you keep writing. That’s persistence.

Life can derail your writing for a time. But honor what you have done. You have written. Honor what you are doing — you’re still learning, you’re still writing. The derailment doesn’t define you. You are a writer.

Know Your Why

You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t passionate about writing. But do you know your why? Why is writing the thing that makes you feel most alive and full of purpose? Do you have a message you want to share? Do you want to entertain? Why? Dig deep. When you know why you want to write it will help you fight imposter syndrome because it gives you focus. And it will keep you keep coming back to that focus.

If you feel you’ve lost your way, perhaps your why has changed. That’s okay. As we learn and grow and write more and more, our why often will change. 

Find your why and it will be your center and your compass. 

Feed the Writer’s Well

You’ve got to take care of all of you. There are four parts of each individual: Physical Mental Emotional and Spiritual. Nurture these parts of you regularly. Every day is the best, but whatever works for you. The activities you do in order to feed these parts of you are uniquely yours. Don’t do something because someone else says it’s “good for you.” Do what fills your well. 

1. Physical

Get movement into your day. That doesn’t mean run a marathon unless that’s your thing. It can be any kind of movement that you can keep doing for twenty minutes or more. Dance? Stretching? Swimming? It doesn’t have to be a rigorous exercise routine. You can take your dogs on a leisurely stroll around the block or play catch with your little one or indulge in chair yoga. 

2. Mental

The mental well you have will be unique to you. Maybe you read nonfiction to fill your mental well. Maybe you do crosswords or you do math problems. This is about exercising your brain in a way that isn’t writing. 

3. Emotional

Find your joy. Include something that gives you great joy every day or two to three times a week. This doesn’t mean letting your joy steal time from your writing, it means find moments of joy. Some call these moments joypennies. What is it that gives you a moment of joy? 

4. Spiritual

Find what feeds your soul. It can be religion, but doesn’t have to be. What feeds your soul is whatever you decide it is. It can be a walk in the park, music, viewing art by the masters, or petting your animal companion. 

Focus on Progress

When you fear you aren’t a “real” writer, you focus on things that are incomplete or didn’t progress as you wanted. Instead of allowing your fear-motivated-brain to control your focus, focus on the progress you made. 

Did you learn something new? Did you write for ten minutes? Keep a record of your progress. Decide which type of measure means the most to you and track it. Some writers track pages written, some track word counts. You may need to track the time you spent learning or writing. 

Spreadsheets make your eyes cross? Don’t use spreadsheets. A simple list of tasks will work or a special journal for each project. The point is to measure and track for each step, no matter how small it may be. Then, when your Imposter Syndrome flares, you have something to look at and remind yourself that you are making progress. 

Celebrate Your Wins

Congratulate yourself for every step forward, even the small ones. Every one is a win. 

Celebrations stimulate the release of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine, the “feel-good” chemical, reinforces the experience. It makes you want more of that feeling. So celebrate your writing related wins. Every celebration will feed your writing well positive thoughts and help keep you writing. 

Find (non-food related) ways to reward yourself for the larger wins. (Okay, an occasional food reward is okay, too.) 

Allow yourself time to watch a new movie or to play a game or walk in your favorite park. Make your celebrations proportional, but give it enough time to sink in.

Find Support

Everyone needs support from someone else from time to time. Find support. Anything from one other writer to a writer’s group to a mentor will work. Where do you look for writing support? If you want an IRL person or group, check with your local library or junior college or university. Online groups can be good options. Take an online class and connect with a fellow learner. Check your favorite social media site for fellow writers. 

Give at least as well as you get. Be ready to provide support for your partner or team. Best of all, try giving before you ask for support for yourself. 

Whatever you choose, look for the support that helps you the most. Need an in-depth critique. Look for that ability in your partner. Need specific genre or sensitivity support. Look for someone who has some experience in that area. 

Free Your Writing Life of Imposter Syndrome

Gather the tools you need to fight imposter syndrome. Keep them somewhere you can find them in the throes of self-doubt. Use them when you need to. 

It’s likely Imposter Syndrome will visit you in more than one way. Many of us never completely shed Imposter Syndrome. But you can supercharge your writing life against Imposter Syndrome and keep moving toward your writing goals. 

Have you experienced Imposter Syndrome? How did you free yourself from it?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Clichés aren’t necessarily bad—they’re just not original.

One of my favorite writing T-shirts says “I avoid clichés like the plague.” But clichés are so ingrained in our day-to-day lives that it’s hard to eliminate them completely from our writing. For me, the more casual the situation, the more often I use them. For example, you’ll see me use them a lot more in blog posts versus my novels.

Clichés are not bad. They’re cultural shorthand to convey an idea.

However, it’s this ease of communication that makes them undesirable in our writing.

We’re writers. We’re supposed to be original. Using something that’s been used "for ages" is taking the lazy way out and making the reader do the work. Even worse, because clichés are so culturally known, readers aren’t surprised by them. How many TV/movie plots have you ever figured out right away because of the clichés used? I’d guess a lot.

But you can make clichés work for you instead of against you.

I had a WIP with a director of security type position and a second-in-command guy. It’s a cliché that both these roles are often filled by a character who’s up to no good—the guy in charge of your security is secretly working against you. Your second-in-command is trying to do you in and take over. No matter what the genre, this role is frequently where the bad guy hides.

Obviously, I didn’t want to make either of these guys a bad guy. Readers would see that coming without even having to look up.

But since I know readers will expect them to be bad guys, it lets me play with those expectations. I can twist the cliché and have my characters behave in ways that could easily be interpreted as helpful or hurtful and let the reader assume the wrong thing. I can play into those expectations and later yank the rug out from under readers when they realize those actions weren’t the actions of a villain.

Take a known cliché and twist it.

Years ago, I read a book called Villains By Necessity by Eve Forward. Forward took the tried-and-true “good vs evil” cliché and turned it on its head. The good guys have won, evil is gone, but it hasn’t turned out exactly as all the fairy tales said it would. The world is unbalanced now, and that’s causing trouble. A group realizes that the world needs a little evil, and to save it, they have to turn into bad guys. The “villains” have to save the world. What a great twist!

My own novel The Shifter developed this way as well. I was playing with various fantasy clichés, trying to find a different angle on my idea. I ended up focusing on healing, and realized that you never saw it used for evil. There were rarely any consequences to it at all. I wondered, “What if healing could be bad? What if it could be harmful?” And thus, the book was born.

If you have a clichéd idea, opening, or character, try looking at how you can make that cliché different.

Can you do the opposite of what’s expected?

Can you make it positive if it’s a negative? Negative if it’s a positive? (As in, if the cliché is always for the good guy can you give it to the bad guy, and vice versa?)

Is there something that hasn’t been done with it already? Can you:

• Change the gender?
• Change the age?
• Change the species?
• Change the genre?
• Change the tone?
• Change the format?

Let’s look at one of the more common clichés: Describing a character by looking in the mirror.

How many times have you heard “Don’t have your character look in a mirror to describe themselves.” It’s good advice, but what if your book absolutely needs to do this?

Then twist the cliché.

First, look at how and why this cliché is typically used:

• It’s the easiest way for a writer to describe their point of view character.
• Studying yourself in the mirror is something we all do.
• It’s easy to get in the descriptive details.

Next, ask yourself why this cliché has to be used:

• What about looking in that mirror is critical to the story?
• Why can’t you describe the character in another way?
• What does looking in the mirror gain you that nothing else can accomplish?

Now, let’s look at my “ways to twist a cliche” list and see what we can come up with:

Can you do the opposite of what’s expected?

You expect to see the person, so what if they have no reflection? What if they remember what they can no longer see? What if they go out of their way to avoid looking into mirrors? What if it’s someone else looking at them as they look into the mirror?

Can you make it positive if it’s a negative?

What if they have something they didn’t have before? Their appearance changed in a way that’s intriguing.

Negative if it’s a positive?

What if they see something they don’t want to see? What if they’re always looking into mirrors because they need to constantly watch behind them? What if they’re waiting for something bad to show up in their reflection?

Naturally, the story will dictate which direction you go with this, but you can already see how a little brainstorming has opened up several ideas.

Unsure if what you’re doing is a cliché or not?

Wander through TV Tropes, one of the most comprehensive cliché databases I’ve ever seen. It covers all the common plots, tricks, and clichés and gives you plenty of examples. It covers books, TV, comics, and movies, so don’t let the name fool you.

Clichés come with expectations. Defy those expectations, and your cliché can become more than cultural short hand.

What clichés do you struggle with? Does your WIP use any? Are they working or not working?

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series. Sign up for her newsletter and receive 25 ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now free.

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